Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Mexican efficiency

I've found that the Mexican government (or at least that of the D.F.) can be highly efficient. Today, I stopped by the Fulbright office to pick up some books from Amazon.com. I forgot to put change in the parking meter (honestly), and by the time I returned 20 minutes later, my car had been booted.

Of course, my initial reaction was "Great, this is going to take all day." I found the address to pay the fine listed on the ticket, and began to walk the 5-6 blocks to the office. Luckily, I had cash on me to pay the $30US fine (normally, I carry more like $20). I asked how long it would take to have the boot removed, and the woman said 20-30 minutes. My interpretation? Prepare to wait 2-3 hours.

As I headed back to the car, I saw the guy taking a boot off another vehicle about 1 block from my car. I stopped and told him I had paid my fine and that my car was a block away. He said he'd already taken the boot off. This was less than 10 minutes after I had paid the fine.

Sure enough, when I got back to my car, the boot was gone.

I was booted at 12:07, returned to my booted car at 12:15, paid my ticket and returned to an un-booted car by 12:45. Who would have thought?

posted by Michelle @ 3:39 PM,

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